Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Turning the Northern Bank into ... the Northern Bank

In the run up to Easter, there was a tease campaign on advertising poster boards across Northern Ireland. Counting down to a new beginning.

Was it the Make Politicians History campaign launch? No – the spelling was too good!

Was it the countdown to the start of my jury service? No.

Was it heralding the end of the Radio 4 UK Theme at 05:30 each morning? No.

It was the rebranding of the Northern Bank. Given the Northern Bank’s recent history – anyone remember £26.5 million being stolen – it was due a rename in line with the Windscale nuclear site becoming Sellafield in 1981 following its sale to BNFL (and drawing a line under the 1957 Windscale fire that was the world’s worst nuclear accident until Chernobyl).

Over the long Easter break - the banks all close their doors on the Thursday night and remain shut until Wednesday morning - shop and sign fitters across NI were busy removing the old signage and screwing on the new.

So out with the old Northern Bank, and in with the new ... wait for it ... Northern Bank!

Instead being renamed, the branding agency simply gave it a logo in the style of its new owner Danske Bank. Spot the difference between the various corporate logos in the wider Danske group.

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